LOS ANGELES — Manny Ramirez had three chances to hurt the Arizona Diamondbacks yesterday. He came through twice, and that was more than enough for the streaking Los Angeles Dodgers.

After striking out on three pitches with the bases loaded in the third inning, Ramirez hit a three-run homer and a two-run double in his next two at-bats, leading the Dodgers to a 7-2 victory over Brandon Webb that gave them sole possession of first place in the NL West for the first time since April 4.

"He was just setting them up right there," teammate Russell Martin said with a smile. "He got them the next time around. I need to learn that."

Martin and Andre Ethier, the first two batters in Los Angeles' lineup, drew three walks each to help give Ramirez the opportunities to come through in the clutch.

"They're walking us to get to Manny," Martin deadpanned.

Chad Billingsley took a shutout into the seventh for the Dodgers (72-70), who won their seventh straight after an eight-game skid to move a half-game ahead of Arizona entering today's finale of their three-game series — the last regular-season game between the teams this season.

"We got hammered two days in a row here and have lost the last four to them, so we need to respond tomorrow," said Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin, whose team has dropped nine of 12. "There's no doubt. We'll see what we're made of tomorrow. We've been in first place for quite a while. Now it's our turn to respond tomorrow and take it back."

The Diamondbacks (71-70) had either held or shared first place since April 5.

After being outscored 54-15 during their losing streak, the Dodgers have outscored the opposition 47-15 in their seven consecutive wins.

Webb (19-7), who issued a career-high six walks while failing in his third attempt to reach 20 wins for the first time, walked Ethier with a runner at second and two outs in the fifth in a scoreless game. Ramirez hit the right-hander's first pitch into the right-field pavilion.

Ramirez came up with the bases loaded again in the sixth, this time against Juan Cruz, and again hit a fly to deep right. Justin Upton lost the ball in the sun, and it landed on the warning track before bouncing into the stands for a ground-rule double.

Billingsley (14-10) allowed four hits in 6 2/3 innings while walking one and striking out nine.

Brewers 1, Padres 0: Ben Sheets pitched a five-hitter for his career-high 13th win and host Milwaukee beat San Diego. Sheets (13-7) struck out seven in his fourth career shutout — third this season. Padres ace Jake Peavy (9-10) allowed a run and five hits with four walks in seven innings. Prince Fielder's RBI double in the third accounted for the only run.

Giants 7, Pirates 6: Rich Aurilia hit one of three Giants home runs and host San Francisco beat Pittsburgh. Scott McClain homered for the second time in four games and Nate Schierholtz hit his first career home run to help the Giants snap a seven-game losing streak at home against the Pirates.

Nationals 8, Braves 5: Ryan Langerhans hit a 10th-inning homer, the Nationals' fifth of the game, and visiting Washington recovered from blowing a two-run lead in the ninth. Langerhans' go-ahead shot in the 10th off Mike Gonzalez (0-2) was his second this season, both as a pinch hitter.

Astros 2, Rockies 0: Roy Oswalt threw a one-hitter and Hunter Pence hit a two-run home run to help visiting Houston beat Colorado. Oswalt (14-9) struck out six, walked two and hit two batters. He threw 102 pitches and gave up only a leadoff single to Brad Hawpe in the fifth inning.

Cubs 14, Reds 9: Alfonso Soriano homered three times as visiting Chicago ended a six-game slide. Soriano hit two solo homers off rookie Johnny Cueto (8-13), then connected for a three-run shot off Jared Burton. Chicago's Derrek Lee had four hits on his 33rd birthday.

Cardinals 5, Marlins 3: Albert Pujols hit a two-run home run and Todd Wellemeyer pitched a season-high eight innings to help host St. Louis beat Florida. Wellemeyer (12-6) gave up five hits and struck out seven.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Athletics 5, Orioles 1: Jack Cust hit two solo home runs, Greg Smith pitched seven shutout innings and visiting Oakland handed Baltimore its eighth straight loss. Smith (7-14) allowed three hits, walked five and struck out two. The game was supposed to be the latter part of a split doubleheader, but the afternoon contest was wiped out by rain.

Tigers 6, Twins 4: Curtis Granderson and Magglio Ordonez each hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and visiting Detroit beat Minnesota. Granderson pounded a 1-1 pitch from lefty Dennys Reyes over the right-field wall to tie it at 4. Matt Guerrier (6-7) gave up a single to Placido Polanco before Ordonez hit a long drive into the left-field seats.

BLUE JAYS 7, RAYS 4: Gregg Zaun hit a game-ending grand slam in the 13th inning and host Toronto beat Tampa Bay to extend its season-high winning streak to seven. Lyle Overbay added two solo homers for Toronto, which matched its longest winning streak since Sept. 22-29, 2002.

White Sox 7, Angels 6: Jim Thome homered in the 15th inning to pass Mickey Mantle on the career list and give host Chicago a victory over Los Angeles. Thome's 537th home run came off Justin Speier (1-8) and put him in sole possession of 14th place.

Royals 3, Indians 1: Gil Meche gave up three hits in seven innings to win for the first time in more than a month, and host Kansas City beat Cleveland. Meche, who was 0-1 with four no-decisions since an Aug. 4 win over Boston, struck out 10.

Yankees 7, Mariners 4: Bobby Abreu homered and drove in three runs, Jason Giambi also connected and visiting New York rallied for five runs in the seventh inning to beat Seattle. The Yankees moved within 7 1/2 games of Boston in the wild-card standings.

Rangers 15, Red Sox 8: Nelson Cruz hit two home runs and a double with five RBIs as host Texas beat Boston. Josh Hamilton went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs to push his majors-best RBI total to 124.